In 2021, The Environmental Partnership continued to make progress across all six environmental performance programs – including reducing flaring, replacing gas-driven pneumatic controllers with low- or zero-emitting devices and reducing leak occurrence rates to 0.05% among the nearly 100,000 sites surveyed. 

The Partnership now represents 100 companies that make up more than 70% of the U.S. onshore oil and natural gas industry, reflecting the growing commitment to driving innovation, sharing best practices and increasing transparency to reduce methane emissions in every major U.S. basin. 

See our progress in the 2022 Annual Report (16 MB).

2021 Environmental Performance Highlights

Progress on Flaring 

Since the launch of the flare management program in 2020, The Partnership has advanced best practices to reduce flare volumes, promote the beneficial use of associated gas and improve flare reliability and efficiency when flaring is necessary.

In 2021, There was a 40% increase in the number of participating companies in the flare management programs. These companies represent 62% and 40% of total U.S. oil and natural gas production, respectively. Including new company participants, there was a 45% reduction in flare intensity and a 26% reduction in total flare volumes from the previous year. 

Advancement through Learning and Collaboration 

In 2021, The Partnership returned to in-person events to promote information sharing and collaboration – both key program principles. A Permian Workshop in October and the fourth annual conference in December provided hands-on opportunities for upstream and midstream operators to share learnings and best practices, collaborate, and continue to advance efforts toward methane emission reduction. 

“ExxonMobil is a big supporter of The Environmental Partnership and the program’s focus on sharing information and best practices among the companies. There’s so much we’re doing individually to reduce methane emissions and this program’s broad coalition of participants is an effective way to work together towards a common goal.”

Matt Kolesar

Chief Environmental Scientist, ExxonMobil

“A highlight of Blue Racer’s membership with The Environmental Partnership has been the collaboration with not only member companies, but also academics, to continuously evaluate best practices and innovative technologies that may have the potential to improve our environmental performance and reduce emissions from our operations. Through our membership we have had the opportunity to be directly involved in the research enabling us to provide first-hand knowledge and feedback to member companies, vendors, academics and agencies. We believe that involvement in these types of efforts will allow us to continue to gain a more accurate assessment of where the best opportunities for investment in emission reductions exist. We look forward to the continued collaboration opportunities availed by our membership in The Environmental Partnership.”

Jill Thornberry

Environmental Manager, Blue Racer

“The Environmental Partnership is a truly unique program and we’ve enjoyed our collaboration with the participating companies since its launch. Their support for our research is advancing our collective understanding of emission to inform further action in the field.”

Dan Zimmerle

METEC at Colorado State University’s Energy Institute